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Uttertomb – Sempiternal [Re-issue] (2018)REVIEW

Chilean cavern-sourced death doom metal band Uttertomb’s 2016 EP ‘Sempiternal’ marked a triumphant point in their spelunking career as the band’s sound fully took shape. Their brand of claustrophobic and reverberating dungeonous death metal growls out slow, lumbering odes to subterranean demons on this short and powerful release. Uttertomb aren’t the generic atmospheric occult death metal project you might expect, as you’ll find thrashing riffs, caterwauling solos, and brilliant high speed moments that sound like a war metal band submerged in primordial ooze. ‘Sempiternal’ contains two tracks that flow together into one thirteen minute epic that perfectly exemplifies their self-described ‘necrological death metal’ sound.

The band’s style is close to something like Funebrarum, Necros Christos or Krypts with a slightly prominent lean towards ‘Onward to Golgotha’ style riffing. The production is reverb heavy and typical for atmospheric occult death metal though the band’s old school sensibilities keep it from sounding like generic occult black metal. This reissue is no frills with no extras and specifically pertains to a cassette re-release. Uttertomb have generally done small runs of cassettes and LPs for their stuff while making it available online for preview. I’m surprised they didn’t re-record these songs like they did with their ‘Necrocentrism’ EP last year, but I generally prefer this grimier production sound that feels less polished over with studio reverb added like their re-recordings. Nothing beats the sound of atmospheric death metal on a tape, especially this type of aggressive cave-dweller death/doom.